Obama Calls On Congress To Overhaul NCLB By Beginning Of School Year

The AP (3/15) reports that President Obama, speaking Monday at a middle school in Arlington, Virginia, cited a new Education Department report indicating that "four out of five schools may be tagged as failures this year under provisions of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law" and called on Congress to revamp the law by the beginning of the next school year. "'That's an astonishing number,' he said. 'We know that four out of five schools in this country aren't failing. So what we're doing to measure success and failure is out of line.'" However, House Education Chairman John Kline "acknowledged the need for improvement but called the president's time line 'arbitrary.'" Obama praised the law's goals, but criticized its metrics for "measuring student progress and labeling schools that fall short."

 

Bloomberg News (3/15, Johnston, Brower) adds that Obama stressed the need for NCLB "to meet the needs of the economy for a skilled workforce. Obama said parents, schools and the government must work together to assure the success of students through hard work in the classroom and programs that will help them excel." Noting that Monday's comments are part of "administration plans to emphasize the importance of education in US economic growth," Bloomberg adds, "Obama also is using the issue to counter Republican proposals to enact as much as $61 billion in cuts to this year's budget, arguing that the plan would hit vital programs." The piece notes that reforming NCLB has bipartisan support. "'We need to fix this law now,' Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters on a conference call yesterday. Duncan said the law is too punitive and takes a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to achievement."

 

The Christian Science Monitor (3/15, Paulson) adds that Obama said that "NCLB is not without its successes, such as shining a light on the achievement gap between students of different races and backgrounds. ... But he added that the law needs changes, which include: rewarding schools for success, improving standards and assessments, getting the best teachers in front of the most disadvantaged kids, and giving more support and better pay to teachers." The Monitor notes that Secretary Duncan last week "told Congress that 82 percent of America's schools could fail to meet the goals set by NCLB this year, and also called for reforms. 'This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed,' he said."

 

USA Today (3/15, Jackson) notes that Duncan "said Sunday that if No Child Left Behind isn't changed, four of five schools won't meet its standards. 'Under the current law, it's one size fits all,' Duncan said. 'We need to fix this law now, so we can close the achievement gap.'"